One of the central criticisms of the past few seasons of Shameless has been its attempts to rewrite its own history—the end of “Gallavich” (Ian and Mickey’s relationship) was necessary due to Noel Fisher’s exit, but the way the show reframed their relationship as purely destructive and worked to basically erase Mickey…

The penultimate episode is always a difficult one to review. More than any other episode, the effectiveness of this hour of television depends on what happens in next week’s finale. There is always the possibility that you could critique a show like Shameless for not doing something, and then the finale reveals that …

This late in its eighth season, Shameless is past the point where it can reasonably course correct. The middle section of the season introduced a number of storylines that failed to highlight the show at its best, losing track of pretty much every character but Lip heading into “Church Of Gay Jesus.”

As I’ve discussed before, Showtime’s choice to sell
streaming rights to Shameless to
Netflix has had a clear impact on the show’s audience. With each new season,
there will be a group of viewers who binged through the entire series without
breaks, experiencing it fundamentally differently than those of us who…

Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d…

In The A.V. Club’s attempt to carve the mountain of TV released in 2017 into a monument commemorating the year’s best programming, we took a slightly different tack than in years past: Ballots were limited to 10 shows apiece, separating the absolute favorites from the fondly remembered and the honorable mentions. Once…

The cycle of a soap opera—and Shameless is, at its core, a soap opera—requires tests. Characters
who have a tendency to make bad decisions (so crucial for a soap opera to
function) will have moments of progress, but then something or someone will
emerge to challenge that progress. The more the cycle repeats, however,…

It struck me watching “Where’s My Meth?” that there is no longer any conflict within the extended Gallagher family itself. After seasons where Fiona was estranged from Debbie and Veronica, and where it felt like the various siblings were drifting away from the family center, this season has been defined by the…

Gathering at a bar with her classmates after her welding class, Debbie is surrounded by people who, like her, are seeking a fresh start.
But none of them had a choice: whether newspaper men or taxi drivers, her
classmates are all people who were forced out of their former careers by
changes in their industries,…

GLOWopens with a dynamic and evocative introduction to the world of women’s wrestling. Set to Scandal’s “The Warrior,” the title sequence uses rotoscoped, neon imagery to visualize the distinctly feminized spectacle that the Netflix series both captures and subverts over the course of its first season. I was already…

Welcome to the “Experts” reviews of Game Of Thrones here at The A.V. Club, which are written from the perspective of someone who has read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Originally, these reviews were a necessity, creating a space where those who had read the books could freely discuss upcoming story…

Welcome to the “Experts” reviews of Game of Thrones here at The A.V. Club, which are written from the perspective of someone who has read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Originally, these reviews were a necessity, creating a space where those who had read the books could freely discuss upcoming story…

Welcome to the “Experts” reviews of Game Of Thrones here at The A.V. Club, which are written from the perspective of someone who has read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Originally, these reviews were a necessity, creating a space where those who had read the books could freely discuss upcoming story…

Welcome to the “Experts” reviews of Game Of Thrones here at The A.V. Club, which are written from the perspective of someone who has read George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire. Originally, these reviews were a necessity, creating a space where those who had read the books could freely discuss upcoming story…